In a statement, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education states that 446,028 students were enrolled in 2022/23 at Portuguese universities and polytechnics, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year.

Of the students enrolled in higher education institutions, 86,631 were in the private sector, which corresponds to 19.5% of the total. When comparing institutions, 30.5% of students were enrolled in polytechnics (135,833).

This increase in enrolled students is part of a trend that has lasted since 2015-2016 (358,450), registering an accumulated growth of 24%.

Portugal also registered 74,597 foreign students, which represents 17% of the total enrolled.

“This result reinforces the confidence that Portugal is on the right track to achieve its long-term qualification goals and that they aim to achieve by 2030 an average attendance rate in higher education of 60% among young people aged 20 and reach 50% of higher education graduates aged 30-34”, says the ministry led by Elvira Fortunato.

Last year, around a third of students (155,082) enrolled for the first time in the 1st year, with more women than men in almost all areas of education and training.

Among foreign students, 24% (17,822) correspond to students covered by international mobility programs, such as the Erasmus Program.

In the case of foreign students enrolled to attend a study cycle entirely in Portugal, the majority come from Brazil (30%), followed by Guinea-Bissau (12%), Cape Verde (11.3%), Angola (9.3%) and France (6%).